Saturday, 23 January 2016

22 January. Our day trip to Santa Cruz Island departed from Oxnard Harbour at 09:00. This gave us an hour of light to do some birding nearby before checking in. Matt had looked on ebird and found 2 Black Skimmers had been seen at Surfer's Knoll the previous day. It was ideal, located between Ventura and Oxnard, and the first place on the coast we had visited when we arrived in California. We left the Viking Motel at 06:30 and arrived at Surfer's Knoll as it was getting light to find a very high tide. We walked out to the river mouth which was swamped by water with some waves breaking over the crest of beach but draining into the sand before breaching the lagoon. The skimmers were sat by the river mouth amongst a selection of gulls and later skimming along the lagoon. Time quickly slipped away and we returned when Matt reminded me our departure time and that we ought to be heading back. We did, having a couple of close encounters with waves almost reaching the lagoon.

Black Skimmer and Glaucous-winged Gull, unusual bedfellows?

one of the few Common Gulls seen, with Ring-billed and California

Glaucous-winged Gull

I wasn't too sure about the front bird

Least Sandpiper

Matt keeping his feet dry, just ...

We drove to Oxnard Harbour arriving at 08:15, quickly checked in and then hung around until the boat boarded and departed just after 09:00. The crossing to Santa Cruz Island took just under two hours and was excellent. We started at the back of the boat but transferred to the bows to better see auks sat on the water ahead of us although it was quite cold there in the wind. I had good views of 8 Cassin's Auklets, 6 Scripp's Murrelets and a couple of Guillemots as well as Brown Booby, juvenile Pomarine Skua and lots of Black-vented Shearwaters, Pacific Divers and Common Dolphins.

Oxnade Harbour

leaving the harbour

Brown Booby, Black-vented Shearwater and Western Gull

We arrived at Prisoners where we had 4.5 hours before returning. We set off down the main track to the start of a superb looking lightly wooded valley seeing both our targets for the island, Island Scrub Jay and the island race of Allen's Hummingbird within 200m. I was watching a male hummingbird in a nearby sallow when it turned and the light caught it's throat. It was such a shockingly brilliant fiery orange that I involuntarily stepped back a pace out of surprise. Further up the valley was private so we followed the main track which climbed up one side and overlooked the beach. We scoped the roosting gulls seeing a Thayer's, several Glaucous-winged and a couple of puzzlers, all were young birds. I had been warned by Martyn Kenefick that one either had too long on the island (4.5 hours) or two little (some boats returned after an hour). The longer visit was our only option and although a shorter one would have been as successful we were happy taking things easy and seeing the jays and hummingbirds again.

Santa Cruz Island

approaching Prisoner's

colour-banded Island Scrub Jay

larger and brighter than the mainland version

usually without a twisty tail

Orange-crowned Warbler

male Allen's Hummingbird, its throat blew me away when it caught the light (unfortunately it didn't for the camera)

female Allen's, still rather impressive

looking down on the beach

some of the gulls had me puzzled, Glaucous-winged and Thayer's?

Stilt Gull??

Glaucous-winged

Santa Cruz Fox, on the prowl

about the size of a large cat which made it very cute

Western Gull, an easy large gull ID!

Our return boat journey was almost as successful as going out although somewhat colder. Only Matt saw a Pomarine Skua, an adult that passed while I was transferring from the cold bows to the slightly warmer stern. I saw two each of Cassin's and Scripp's and had poor views of what I thought were Rhinocerous Auklets, fortunately something we had seen well off Monterey. Heading to the coast we passed large rafts of Black-vented Shearwaters (500+), Pacific Divers (1000+), Western Grebe (3000+) and Brandt's Cormorants (500+). Five Grey (Gray) Whales, better views than off Monterey, a full moon, a nice sunset and a couple of small groups of Heerman's Gulls roosting on floating seaweed made it a very memorable trip. We were back in Oxnard at 17:00, just as the light was fading, and returned to the Viking Motel in Ventura. My last full day had been another good one.

leaving Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz Island

Heerman's Gull on a seaweed raft

Ventura coast

full moon

23 January. My last morning and I had time for some birding in/near LA before Matt dropped me near LAX. Looking on ebird Matt had found that a Hermit Warbler had been seen in a park in LA a couple of days before. There was no further news but it seemed worth a try, more so as it was in 'Dennis the Menace' park. We left the Viking Motel at 05:25 and Matt drove to the park arriving at 07:00 soon after it was light. Traffic had been reasonable, it was a Saturday which doubtless helped, although doing the journey in the dark meant we dipped on the Hollywood sign. The small park did not look encouraging, scattered tall trees, no understory and a large children's play area. There was also no access from the side we had approached and we had to climb over a tall fence to get in. Matt soon found a Townsend's Warbler, a close miss, and several Audubon's. I decided to concentrate on two tall conifers that a Ruby-crowned Kinglet was feeding in. After 20 minutes Matt called over that he had found it and I ran, arriving just in time to see it before it flew, back towards where I had run from and into one of the conifers I had been looking at. There it gave better views and although not a male was still very impressive. We also saw Western Tanager, Orange-crowned Warbler, Cedar Waxwing and a flock of 14 Bushtits. Not bad for a small park.

Dennis the Menace Park, much birdier than it appeared

who is Dennis?

We had a smooth run to LAX and just had enough time for a look at a lagoon and the beach at Del Rey, not helped by the beach road being closed for a fun run. I finished the trip with Surf Scoter, Buffleheads and some last Heerman's Gulls. Matt dropped me at Alamo at 09:40, he had another successful three days south of LA (see http://seafordbirding.blogspot.co.uk/2016_01_01_archive.htmlfor details and some brilliant photos taken during the trip) while I caught the shuttle bus to LAX, checked in just after 10:00 and began the long journey home (via a snowy Minneapolis St Pauls).

American Coot

drake Bufflehead at Del Rey

Heerman's Gulls at Del Rey, a fitting end to a brilliant trip

The trip had been very successful and hugely enjoyable, in no small measure due to Matt. I was very grateful he had mentioned his plans and more so that he invited me along. A big thank you too to Guy McCaskie for showing a couple of complete strangers around his patch so enthusiastically.

Thursday, 21 January 2016

Continuing our enjoyable California trip, Matt and I were at Salton Sea where not so local expert Guy McCaskie very kindly showed us around.20 January. We met Guy outside the Desert Inn Motel in Brawley at 06:15. He had driven over from San Diego which he had left at 04:00. Guy had been very helpful to my good friend Frank Lambert and Nigel Voaden when they had visited the area the previous summer. At Frank's suggestion we had contacted Guy to see if he would be birding around Salton Sea while we were around. He very kindly agreed to take us around but we hadn't appreciated that he lived nearly 130 miles away, perhaps no great distance in California! Guy suggested the best course of action would be to look for some land birds which would be most active early in the day leaving the waterbirds until later when the timing would make little difference. This seemed a good plan and we transferred to his vehicle. He was able to go into a few areas that were generally off-limits and his car was well known and wouldn't create any concern. We started a few miles outside of Brawley as it began to get light and were soon clocking up species we would have been unlikely to find ourselves (Vermilion Flycatcher and some doves). We headed back into Brawley, checking out a residential hummingbird feeder where there were several Anna's and two Costa's, before visiting Cattlecall Park. It was a good site for Gila Woodpecker (we saw two) and with a bit of perseverance we found a roosting Great Horned Owl.

Costa's Hummingbird

at a feeder in downtown Brawley

Annas's and Costa's (middle bird) Hummingbirds

Great Horned Owl in Cattlecall Park

another male Vermilion Flycatcher, we saw three before heading for the wetlands

We headed north to look for Yellow-headed Blackbirds amongst huge numbers of Red-shouldered and Brown-headed Cowbirds. Guy tracked down a large flock of several thousand birds that was feeding around a large herds of cows which were crammed into open sheds. The Yellow-heads were surprisingly hard to pick out although we only saw one or two males. The smell was rather overpowering and I was very pleased to leave. We headed north to the Rocky Hill section of the Sonny Bono Wildlife Refuge ('I got you babe' and Congressman fame) stopping to check a large burnt field where a flock of Mountain Plovers had been present for the previous few days. No sign unfortunately (we were very relieved to have seen them in Antelope Valley) but two brilliant Burrowing Owls living in a tyre provided some compensation. We called in at a friend of Guy's nearby seeing more Anna's Hummingbirds on feeders and some Cedar Waxwings on their property.

Burrowing Owl inn its tyre

its mate was nearby

Cedar Waxwings near Brawley

before spending the rest of the morning at Rocky Hill, Obsidian Butte and nearby pools and marshes looking at staggering numbers of grebes, cormorants, pelicans, duck and gulls. We were particularly interested in checking the gulls in the hope of finding an adult Yellow-footed that had been seen in the area up to the start of the year. Guy had warned us that it would be a very difficult bird to find as fewer than usual had come up from Mexico the previous autumn including virtually no young birds which would be more likely to hang on into the winter. Only two had been recorded on the Christmas bird count (in early December), both by Guy - no surprise there! We checked every gull flock we could find and were pretty confident the Yellow-footed Gull was not about. It being a dark mantled gull amongst much paler birds would have made it stand out even at some distance. Guy picked out two Neotropic Cormorants amongst hundreds of Double-crested, not something I was even considering.

American Avocets

their bills seemed impossibly thin

Marbled Godwit

Least Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

White-faced Ibis

Ridgway's Rail

as Guy said 'we don't get Clapper Rails around here any more'

Greater Roadrunner with crest raised

we saw five around the Salton Sea during our day with Guy

Neotropic Cormorant

a second-winter Glaucous-winged Gull

The Southern California site guide mentioned a record of Ross's Gull at Salton Sea as an example of an extreme rarity seem there. I asked Guy how many people would turn up the next morning for a Ross's Gull. It turned out Guy had found it, two people made it that evening and about 30 the next day. Guy also found a Bridled Tern but in a private area. The wardens only allowed him to drive in there but didn't mind who he took in. It stayed 8 weeks and he never had so many friends! Salton Sea had an impressive list of pelagic vagrants, thought to have become 'stuck' at the top of the Gulf of California only about 100 miles to SE. There had been 4 Laysan Albatrosses (Guy had seen 2), 3 species of Storm Petrel, three of Shearwaters and Cook's Petrel. Guy was originally from Inverness but moved to San Diego in 1957. Despite being well past retirement age he was still Vice-President of a construction company and he was the top California lister. We were privileged to be taken around by him, but he clearly enjoyed showing off his patch to visitors and, despite te distance, visited Salton Sea once a week on average. Ross's Gull wasn't a possibility, Guy's bird remains the only Salton Sea record, but Ross's Goose was. We headed south to Sonny Bono Unit 1 where a large flock of Snow and Ross's Geese were wintering. There were about 5000 birds present, mostly Snow but we picked out 20-30 Ross's. There were a few Sandhill Cranes nearby and thousands of birds in the distance at the mouth of New River. Most were too far away to identify but the pelicans stood out.

Geese at Sonny Bono Unit 1

most were Snow Geese, including encouraging numbers of juveniles

we picked out several smaller, shorter-billed Ross's Geese amongst them

Sandhill Cranes

We finished the day back at Obsidian Butte looking unsuccessfully for Yellow-footed Gull after another abortive look at the burnt field for Mountain Plover. We did see a first-winter Thayer's Gull and brought our total of Glaucous-winged to three. A brilliant day, I had seen 95 species including Greater Roadrunners, Ridgway's Rail, Stilt Sandpipers, Gambel's Quail, Clark's Grebe and Cinnamon Teal. Back in Brawley we had a meal with Guy, who was staying over, and planned some birding the following morning.

Red Hill and Rocky Hill from Obsidian Butte

Obsidian Butte

American White Pelicans over Obsidian Butte

American Herring Gulls

Thayer's Gull at Obsidian Butte

I was actually first to see it but fortunately Guy agreed with my ID

a nice end to a very enjoyable day

with another spectacular sunset to top it off

21 January. At 06:30 we followed Guy south to Sheldon Reservoir. A small earth-banked rectangle surrounded by a chain link fence. Guy pulled up by a narrow gap in the fence and told us we had local fishermen to thank for being able to access it. It had been gated and secured by a padlock and chain which they had repeatedly cut only for the authorities to replace. They then removed the gate too at which point the authorities gave up. On the reservoir we saw Redhead, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck and a female Bufflehead. We headed back north to the burnt field, the Burrowing Owls were still in their tyre but the Mountain Plovers had not returned. At Sonny Bono the light was excellent for checking the gulls and we tried the Rocky Hill pools, Observation Hill and Red Hill (where Guy had found the Ross's Gull) but no dark mantled birds were present. We had tried our hardest and in Guy had the best person possible to help us. At least we had an excuse to return another autumn.

both Burrowing Owls in their tyre

Guy scanning for Mountain Plovers, they had temporarily gone missing

Guy scanning at Red Hill. Perfect light but no dark mantled gulls

Snow Geese over Sonny Bono

two of five Stilt Sandpipers at Sonny Bono

We said farewell to Guy and continued north around the east side of Salton Sea. Guy had suggested checking the gulls at Salt Creek and North Shore but warned us there had been a couple of Lesser Black-backs around. We were pleased to have been forewarned as we saw single adults at both. Three Bonaparte's Gulls at Salt Creek were much more welcome and the only ones I saw.

Salt Creek

gulls at salt creek, including a Lesser Black-back

Bonaparte's Gulls at Salt Creek

Lesser Black-backed Gull at North Shore. Guy had warned us before we came that Yellow-footed Gull would be tough to find at this time of year but seeing 2 Lesser Black-backs, 3 Glaucous-winged and a Thayer's we felt a bit disappointed not to have done so too.

Cactus Wren at North Shore, Matt first heard its distinctive call, my mind was elsewhere ...

Matt drove us back to the coast in about five hours, mostly on not overly busy freeways. We skirted Palm Springs, San Bernadino and northern Los Angeles (Pasadena and Glendale) before reaching the coast at Mugu Rock. Heerman's Gulls in the car park were nice to see again while distant Black-vented Shearwaters and not so distant dolphins were offshore. We had a couple of hours of light left and decided to try La Jolla Canyon, a site for Canyon Wren. Ignoring a sign warning of trail damage (as others were) we followed the main canyon inland for a mile or so before finding a pair of Rock Wrens then an excellent Canyon Wren. We called in at Perkin's Road Treatment Works where a small pool held Blue-winged and Cinnamon Teal, several Night Herons and a superb male Yellowthroat. We drove to nearby Oxnard Harbour to check where our boat to Santa Cruz Island was leaving from in the morning - I had received an email notifying us of a change of departure as Ventura Harbour was storm damaged. It was then a 25 minute drive up the coast to Ventura and the Viking Motel.

Heerman's Gull in Mugu Rock car park. I was about to walk down onto the beach where some were resting in the hope of getting close enough for photos when this one flew in and landed nearby